COMPETITION WINNERS
• Tadworth Art Group
The Tadworth Art Group’s recent annual exhibition was a great success with work of a very high standard being entered by its members. The Artist magazine is delighted to sponsor a prize and our congratulations go to Teresa Allen for her mixed-media work Teasels in a Blue Jug (above). Teresa wins a one-year digital subscription to the magazine. ‘I am a contemporary painter,’ writes Teresa, ‘working in acrylic, gouache and pastel and focusing on figurative landscapes and seascapes. During the past 18 months I participated in a few workshops to widen my knowledge of different approaches to painting and I applied some of the techniques I learnt to the background of this piece.
‘I love the shape and colour of teasels, which grow behind my garden fence, and thought they would work well with the abstracted background. I used gessoed watercolour paper and layers of paint, collage and clear tar gel to create texture, scraping out areas with a sharp tool. The jug and teasels were added using a flat-edged palette knife, collage and stencilling. My biggest problem was how to balance the realism of the jug with the abstraction of the background. This was achieved through lost and found edges and by disrupting the shape and colour of the jug with the background colours.’To see more of Teresa’s work, go to www.teresaallenpaintings.com More information about the Tadworth Art Group can be found at www.tadworthartgroup.com
• Society of Painters in Water-Mixable Oils
Judith Yates has won The Artist Award in the professional category of the second annual SPWMO Open Painting Competition organised by the Society of Painters in WaterMixable Oils. Judith’s striking portrait of Colin (above) was chosen by Sally Bulgin, editor of The Artist from the Portrait/ Figurative category. Judith graduated from a fine art painting degree course and has worked as a professional artist ever since, selling her work privately and through a number of art galleries. She also works with several art societies running workshops and has written articles for The Artist. Her book, Dynamic Seascapes, has recently been published by Search Press.
‘I was introduced to water-mixable oils by Murray Ince, the creator of the SPWMO,‘ writes Judith. ‘I am thrilled with the ease of blending and versatility of the paint. My last portrait in oils was painted over 50 years ago! Consequently, for this new portrait I decided to paint a subject I know very well and whose every nuance of expression I understand – my husband, Colin. We were drinking coffee in the garden. I noted that my husband was totally relaxed in an endorphin-induced daze after exercising, which I decided to recreate. I quickly snapped a series of photographs for reference capturing the dramatic backlighting from a low, early autumn sunlight and the warm light reflected in his face from the table. Those highlights in his eyes are in fact reflections off the coffee pot. I strongly believe that beautiful, dramatic lighting creates a powerful portrait. I used the photographs for reference, completing the portrait fairly quickly, using loose brushstrokes around the edges, whilst concentrating all the detail in the face and those sunlit bright eyes.’
To find out more about the SPMWO visit www.spwmo.org.uk